Game overview this is it! MOBA (massive outplay battle arena) is a fast-paced, tactical skirmish combat board game in a not-too-serious cartoony fantasy setting. It s designed for two or more players and one game plays in about one to two hours. Players assemble and take command of teams consisting of 3-5 powerful heroes each comes with a unique set of skills, strengths and weaknesses - and try to beat the sh!t out of each other. Combat is card driven, very fast and brutal, and features heavy outplay and bluffing elements. Heroes improve over the course of the game, as they unlock new skills for killing enemies and plunder special areas on the map for better equipment. While being probably the most fun part, piling up enemy hero corpses won t win you the game (although getting some kills might be a good start) - there are different objectives on the map that need to be dominated in order to gain victory points the first player who gains 5 victory points wins the game. - 1 -
1. Contents 2. Component breakdown.... 3 3. Rules of play.... 6 3.1 Setup.... 6 3.2 Sequence of play.. 6 I Payday.. 6 II Planning.. 9 III Activation. 10 Move.... 14 Attack.. 15 Abilities 24 A hero s death. 24 IV Organization.. 25 3.3 Additional rules.. 27 a) Status effects tokens.. 27 b) Interrupts... 28 c) Attacks from behind..28 d) Rules for more than 2 players.. 28-2 -
2. Component breakdown here s what you get! (Pictures from Tabletopia) 1 Hex grid map 10 Hero figures (5 for each team) 10 Hero cards Hero cards are used to track the amount of wounds a hero has received and contain some more information about that hero. Base defense value Number of defense cards the player of that hero may select to defend against an incoming attack! Hit points (=Number of red crosses) Heroes are killed, if they receive a number of wounds that equal to their amount of hit points. 42 Action cards (4 Action cards per hero, 2 wild portal cards) At the beginning of each round players choose one action card for each hero they control (that isn t recovering). Action cards are played to activate heroes in order to move and attack / use special abilities! Action phase bar Action cards may only be used during the green marked action phases. Attack box (Attack actions only) This box contains all the information needed to perform an attack like the amount of attack cards that may be used, damage and attack effects, and attack range! Hero icon Actions may exclusively be used by the hero portrayed here. Movement value States the number of spaces a hero may be moved when activated. Defense modificator States the number of additional defense cards that hero may use to defend against the next incoming attack. Special rule box Contains special rules that apply for that action. - 3 -
16 Battle cards Battle cards are used as attack cards or defense cards, depending on which side of the club your hero is. Each player has a set of 8 battle cards at his disposal. In order to determine the outcome of an attack, both the player of the attacking hero and the player of the defending hero secretly select some of these cards (the exact number depends on the attack value and defense value of the fighting heroes). 3 Objective areas These are placed on the map during setup. Your heroes may attempt to dominate objective areas to obtain (=score) item cards and victory points to win the game! 2 Camp areas Placed on the map during setup, camp areas are the places where your heroes start the game and where they respawn after they got killed and have recovered. 12 Item cards Your heroes can score these items by dominating one of the objective areas on the map. While some items (like Hero Manual or Thief s Dagger) enhance your heroes power, Victory Banners earn you victory points that win you the game. Special rule box Special rules of the items are listed here. Mana crystal cost Items can only be scored if there are at least as many mana crystals on the objective area the item is at, as the mana crystal cost indicates. Item type There are victory banners, usables, weapons and armor. - 4 -
60 Tokens These tokens are used to track wounds, status effects etc. 1 Track board with action phase slider and item slots for objective areas The action phase slider is used to keep track of the action phase sequence. The action phase token ( ) is placed on the first action phase on the left side of the track board at the beginning of the activation step. After the first action phase has ended, slide it to the second action phase and so on. At the beginning of the next activation step during the next round, the action phase token starts on the first action phase space again. Additionally you find 3 card placeholders (=item slots) that are assigned to the 3 objective areas (Castle, Dark Tower and Town). During setup, item cards will be placed here to show what items can be obtained (=scored) at the corresponding objective areas on the map. - 5 -
3. The rules how you rock! 3.1 Setup - let s get started! Multiplayer: Note that the following rules are written for 2 players. To play with more than 2 players check page 28! Follow these steps to set up a MOBA game: 1) Agree on the number of heroes each player controls! It s up to you how many heroes each player controls as long as both players command the same number of heroes. Standard MOBA games are 5 vs 5, but you can also play 4 vs 4 and 3 vs 3. Playing 2 vs 2 is recommended only for learning the basics of the game. 2) Setup the board as shown in the following diagram! 1. Place the board! 2. Place 3 objective areas and blue and red camp area on the indicated spaces! 4. Place track board next to the map and place action phase token nearby! 3. Place all available tokens as a token supply that every player can reach! 5. Shuffle the item cards, form 3 stacks of 4 cards each and put them face down on the placeholder spaces next to the objective areas on the track board. Now every objective area is associated with an individual stack of item cards that can be scored by dominating that objective area on the map. Flip the upper card of each stack face up! 3) Draft your team - don t choose the wimps (think sports classes)! 1. Determine randomly which player commands team red and which one commands team blue (the camps on the game board with the corresponding color will be your heroes starting point and respawn area and figures you control will have bases in that color). The player commanding the red team is referred to as the red player commanding the red team and vice versa. 2. Put all available hero cards (or all hero cards you want to use) in the middle of the gaming table. There cannot be more than one copy of each hero card in the middle of the table, put all multiple copies aside! (For prototype version see bottom box!) 3. The player commanding the red team now gets to pick 1 hero (and takes the corresponding hero card). The blue team player after that selects 2 hero cards followed by red player selecting 2 hero cards and so on. Stop hero selection as soon as both players have reached the maximum amount of heroes per player you agreed on. If it is your turn to draft 2 heroes and you need only one hero more to complete your team select only one hero card! Note that the prototype version of Moba contains only 5 different heroes (2 copies of each)! While using that version put all 10 hero cards in the middle of the table for drafting. One player cannot draft a specific hero card more than once! - 6 -
4) Get your heroes ready it s training time! 1. Place your hero cards at your edge of the table (where your camp is) close to the map! Get a hero figure for every hero card you drafted! Every figure must have the base color of your team (red or blue)! Place the figures on top of their hero cards! 2. Some heroes require additional figures or tokens. You ll find a list of these at the back of the hero card. Get em! 3. Each hero comes with 4 individual action cards (check the bottom right corner for the matching hero icon!). You may choose two action cards per hero that are unlocked, representing that hero s starting actions. The remaining two action cards per hero are placed under the corresponding hero cards. For now they are considered to be locked and cannot be used, but your heroes may unlock them later in the game making them available as well. Now each player should have hero count x 2 action cards in his/her hand! Note: On the back of each hero card you ll find two action cards that are recommended to start with for beginners, if you don t know what you are doing these are the ones to go with. When you get more familiar with the game you can start to try out new combinations of starting actions that fit your playstyle and discover new combos and synergies with other heroes! 4. Get the Portal action card. This card is a wild one every hero may use it (there is no hero icon in the bottom right corner). Add this card to your hand! 5. Get your set of 8 battle cards. There are 4 different hitzone symbols on the cards and each player should have 2 copies of each! - 7 -
3.2 Sequence of play I Payday It s time to put some mana crystal tokens ( ) on the objective areas on the track board! Mana crystals are one requirement to score an item (as an additional requirement to score an item you have to dominate the objective area on the map, where the item is at this is explained in detail on page 25). Both players secretly choose one of their battle cards showing brain ( ), head ( ) or torso ( ) and put them face down on the table. After revealing both cards take two mana crystal tokens from the Moba is played in rounds. Each round consists of: I Payday II Planning III Activation IV Organization supply and place them on the objective areas on the track board marked with the matching symbols (brain, head or torso). If both players chose the same battle card, both tokens go on the same objective area. An item card, that has a mana crystal cost equal to or lower than the actual amount of mana tokens on its objective area, can be scored at the end of the round (scored = obtained by a hero standing on a space adjacent to the area without enemy heroes around). As mentioned before the scoring of a special type of items called Victory Banners is key to victory so pay attention where you throw that crystals at! Example: Red team player reveals head! Blue team player reveals brain! After both cards are revealed one mana crystal tokens is placed on the Castle area containing Victory Banner and one on the Dark Tower containing Ridiculously Big Sword Victory Banner could be scored at the end of this round if a hero dominates the Castle objective area on the map, as its mana crystal cost is 3 and there are 3 mana crystal tokens on the Castle area! - 8 -
II Planning Both players simultaneously and secretly select one action card per hero under their control (note that hero figures that got killed the round before are placed on their hero cards laying on the side to indicate that they recover they cannot act this round and you cannot choose action cards for them). You may only select action cards from your hand (i.e. action cards you chose for your heroes to be unlocked during setup or action cards your heroes additionally unlocked during the game). Any action cards not selected are set apart face down - they cannot be used during this round (as they stay unlocked they will be available to select in the planning phase of the next round again). Players should now have as many action cards in hand as heroes they control (minus one card for each hero that got killed and still is recovering). Wild action cards are action cards with a blank hero icon space. They may be selected for any hero instead of the hero exclusive ones. Example: Hand of red team player. In this example red team player controls 3 heroes. During planning phase he/she selects one action card for each hero he/she controls. Note that the portal action card was chosen for the Troll (instead of a Troll action card)! The remaining action cards are set apart facedown - they cannot be used this round! Hand of red team player after planning phase. - 9 -
III Activation Action phase sequence During this step both players activate their heroes by playing action cards. Each hero can only be activated once during a round and only by an action card showing the matching hero icon in the bottom right corner (or a wild card showing a blank hero icon). Activation is split up into 4 action phases that are resolved one after the other. Use the action phase token ( ) to show the current action phase on the track board and place it on the first action phase of the action phase slider to get started. Restrictions for action cards Most action cards cannot be played in all 4 action phases. Check the action phase bar in the upper left corner of the action card to determine in which phases it may be played. Green Action card may be played in that phase. Red (crossed) Action card cannot be played in that phase. Blue Action cards containing blue action phase spaces are interrupts. They may be played in that action phase, but only during the activation of an enemy hero when certain conditions are met - these are noted on the interrupt card in its special rules box! Check page 28 for additional rules concerning interrupts. - 10 -
Playing action cards In the very first action phase of a game the blue team player is the starting player. As the starting player you have two options: Play an action card out of your hand to activate a hero (respecting action phase restrictions) Pass do nothing After that your opponent may play an action card or pass and you keep taking turns playing action cards/passing. In case both players pass in immediate succession, the action phase token on the track board is moved on to the next space of the action phase slider and the next action phase begins. In the next action phase, the player who did not play the last action card is the new starting player he or she now decides first whether to play an action card or pass... Note that this rule applies also for the next game rounds starting player in the first action phase will be the player who did not activate the last unit (even if that activation happened the game round before)! Keep on going until action phase 4 if both players pass in immediate succession activation is over and you proceed to step IV Organization. Missed opportunities Note that under certain circumstances, some heroes cannot be activated and there is no rule that players have to activate all of their heroes every round. Situations like that may occur for example if a player forgets to play his action card in a not restricted action phase or if a player chose an interrupt card for a hero which isn t triggered during that round. In case a hero is killed before he was activated, the activation is lost, too. Check page 29 Blocked Activation for additional rules! - 11 -
Example: 1. During the first action phase blue player (starting player) plays Wild Hunt to activate his Wolfrider. The Gladiator cannot be activated now, because Execute is restricted to action phase 3! 3. Has to pass! 2. Red player has to pass because none of her action cards may be played in action phase 1! Red player hand. 5. Has to pass, because the only action card he has left is Execute which is restricted to action phase 3! 4. Blue player played the last action card ( Wild Hunt ) so red player is the starting player in the second action phase. She chooses to activate her Troll playing the Fury action card. (Note that she could have decided to activate her Assassin as well!) 8. Having another action card that may be played in phase 2 red player activates her Assassin by playing Shuriken Strike! 9. Passes. 10. Pass no action cards left. Blue player hand. 11. Finally blue player may activate his Gladiator in phase 3 by playing Execute. (provided Gladiator is still alive ) - 12 -
A hero is activated whenever you play an action card showing that hero s hero icon in the bottom right corner. Here are the rules for activating a hero: First: Check defense modificator and status effects! Some action cards grant a defense modificator ( ) - refer to the shield icon in the upper right corner of the card. If the defense modificator is not zero ( ), put a defense modifier token ( ) showing the indicated value on the space of the hero at the beginning of that hero s activation (this marker could save your hero s ass during the next incoming attack so don t forget it!). Heroes may be affected by other status effects (indicated with status effect tokens (e.g.,, etc.)) - these are resolved/taken into account at this point as well. Refer to page 27 (status effects) for detailed information! Note that some status effects could modify the steps explained in the following section (the status effect immobilized (xxx ) for example would prevent your hero from moving). Take action! Most action cards allow your hero to Rules are meant to be broken! move and perform some sort of attack or ability explained on the card. Note that, Whenever the text on a card unless stated otherwise, the order to do contradicts the text of this rulebook, this is up to the controlling player, the card text takes precedence! however movement has to be fully resolved before attacks or abilities may be used and attacks/abilities have to be finished completely before your hero may move. - 13 -
Get moving! Your hero gets a number of movement points as indicated by the movement value (xxxx) on the action card. For every point the hero may be moved one space. You may decide not to use all of your hero s movement Friend or foe? points if you wish. Spaces containing enemy Any heroes with the same base heroes, camp areas, and objective areas are color are considered to be considered to be blocked and your hero cannot friendly heroes, any heroes with move over or stop on them. Your hero may move another base color are through but not stop on spaces containing considered to be enemy heroes! friendly heroes, however. After movement, choose the facing of your hero - place the hero figure clearly facing (xxx) in the direction of one of the edges of the space it is standing on (look at the example at the right). Example The blue team Wolfrider activated with Bola Strike ( ) could move to space C move to space A (heroes may move over spaces containing friendly heroes ) move to space B because heroes don t have to use all movement points Enter the map! not move to space D, because therefore he had to move over one blocked space (Dark Tower / Red team Shaman) At the beginning of the game or after they are killed and have fully recovered, heroes may enter/reenter the map at the beginning of their activation. Therefore they have to be activated normally by playing an action card. Note that the figure of a hero is placed on its hero card laying on its side during the round after the hero got killed. This is to indicate that the hero is still recovering - you cannot choose action cards for that hero during the planning phase and thus that hero cannot enter the map until the hero is fully recovered (check page 26 for recovery rules). To enter/reenter the map place your hero on a non-blocked space adjacent to your camp area as the very first part of that hero s activation. Heroes cannot reenter the map if all adjacent spaces are blocked and lose their activation for that round. This placement is not considered a move and does not cost any movement points. After placing your hero proceed activation normally! - 14 -
Attack! Every action card with an attack box is an attack action. Here s the breakdown: Attack box Range box Contains information about targeting and range. Base attack value This is the default amount of attack cards you may select to hit your target. Hitzone table By selecting attack cards you decide exactly where your hero s attacks are going to hit! This table shows the effects, that hits are going to have on the 4 different hitzones. In this particular example a hit to the head ( ) would cause 2 wounds ( ), a hit to the torso ( ) would cause 1 wound and the target would receive a slow marker (xxx ) reducing the movement points available during its next activation. Hitting the legs would cause no damage but would completely immobilize ( ) the target for its next activation. Note that your opponent will try to anticipate where your hero s attacks are aimed at and block some of them by selecting defense cards showing matching hitzone symbols, so choose wisely! Each attack is resolved in 3 steps: 1) Targeting 2) Play battle cards 3) Evaluate These steps are explained in detail on the following pages! - 15 -
1) Targeting There are 3 different types of attack actions regarding targeting. Check the range box in the upper right corner of the attack box to determine what targeting rules apply for a specific attack action: Single target Attack (StA) Skillshot Area of Effect (AoE) attack Attacks automatically fail if they cannot target any hero (friendly or enemy) in this case don t proceed to step 2 Play battle cards! Single target Attacks (StA) These attacks target a single hero. The number in the range box is the maximum range of the attack. Your hero can only target heroes within this range in spaces (count the shortest way between attacking hero and target start on the space adjacent to your hero and count until the space containing the target hero). Heroes that are more spaces away are considered to be out of range and cannot be targeted. Example: The Wolfrider of team red is about to use his Bola Strike attack (StA range 2). He can target the Troll without changing his position because the Troll is 2 spaces away but he cannot target the Shaman, who is in range 3, without moving before! Additionally, to perform a StA your hero needs to have LoS (Line of Sight) to the target hero if not stated otherwise. (Check the boxes on pages 17/18 for LoS rules). - 16 -
Line of Sight To determine LoS draw a straight line from the middle of the attacking hero s space to the middle of the target s space. If that line crosses a space that contains an object blocking LoS the target is not in LoS and therefore may not be targeted. In case the line skims a blocked space (touching an edge/apex) draw another parallel line slightly to the left or right of the original line. If that line doesn t cross a space that blocks LoS the target is within LoS. LoS is blocked by: Heroes (friendly and enemy) Areas (camps and objectives) Targeting is possible because the straight line skims the space of the Dark Tower but after slightly shifting the line to the bottom of the picture it is not blocked anymore! Procced to step 2 Play battle cards. Targeting is not possible because the straight line crosses the space of Dark Tower which is blocking LoS! This attack cannot be performed. Targeting is not possible because the straight line skims blocked spaces and cannot be shifted in a way that the new line would not cross blocked spaces! - 17 -
As an additional condition, to establish LoS the target must be within the front arc of the hero (the front arc of a hero is determined by that hero s facing). There is one simple rule : Whenever the line you draw for checking for LoS crosses or skims the attacking hero s red or blue colored base area the target is in the front arc of that hero. Check the following diagram for clarification: Line does not cross blue colored base area of Troll. Line crosses blue colored base area of Troll! The blue team Troll has LoS to the red team Wolfrider because you can draw a straight line between the middle points of the spaces where the two heroes are at which isn t blocked and the Wolfrider is within the Troll s front arc (marked by the blue edges on the Troll s base). Note that all red colored spaces on the map in this example are within the Troll s front arc. The Troll does not have LoS to the red team Gladiator you can draw a straight line, but the Gladiator is not within the Troll s front arc. - 18 -
Skillshots Skillshots are attacks targeting the first hero in a straight line originating from the attacking hero, exactly in the direction that hero is facing (in the range box facing and position of the attacking hero are represented as a white arrow on a black space). Only the hero that is closest to the attacking hero within that line is targeted (this is different from AoE-Attacks that may target multiple heroes at once). Skillshots also have a maximum range indicated by the red number and the length of the red arrow in the range box and cannot target heroes on spaces out of that range. Just like StAs skillshots require LoS. Example: The red team Shaman at the back of the picture cannot target the blue team Shaman with the Flame Spear attack even if within range 5 because Dark Tower blocks LoS. The blue team Shaman may target the Wolfrider with the Flame Spear attack, but not the Gladiator as the Wolfrider is blocking LoS. Note that Skillshots must be fired exactly in the direction the attacking hero is facing! - 19 -
AoE attacks AoE attacks target all heroes (enemy and friendly!) on the red colored spaces as shown in the range box. The black colored space in the range box marks the relative position of the attacking hero to the targeted spaces, the white arrow indicates the facing of that hero. AoE attacks don t require LoS if not stated otherwise. AoE attacks only fail automatically if not a single hero can be targeted. There are additional rules to resolve an attack that target multiple heroes (see page 23)! Example: The red team Gladiator can target both blue team heroes even without having LoS to the blue team Troll. However he would have to target the friendly Shaman as well (the opponent player would pick attack cards for the attack against the friendly hero in that case.) Alternatively the Gladiator could be turned by 60 to the right (not as a part of the attack but during movement) and the attack would only target the blue team Assassin! - 20 -
2) Play battle cards Friendly fire! Place the attack action card in the middle of the Whenever an attack hits a friendly table so that attacking and defending player can hero the enemy player selects see it. Now both players secretly select battle attack cards for the attack against cards to determine where and how hard the this hero! attack hits and if it can be blocked. The attacker s battle cards are referred to as attack cards, the defender s battle cards are referred to as defense cards. Note that both players choose from their own pool of 8 battle cards and have access to the full set of 8 cards for every attack! First check how many battle cards you may select: Attack cards: Base attack value (that s the number inside the yellow circle of the attack box on the attack card) Modifiers (for example by weapon items the hero has equipped or status effect tokens ( )) Defense cards Base defense value (that s the number inside the shield of the hero card of the attacked hero) Modifiers (for example by armor items the hero has equipped or status effect tokens ( )) You may select whatever combination of battle cards you wish as long as you stick to the determined number. Now both players place their battle cards face down on the table. Example: Blue team Wolfrider targets red team Shaman with his attack action Bola Strike. After checking for range and LoS the amount of battle cards both players may use are determined: Wolfrider: 2 (Base attack value) + 1 ( Token) = 3 Attack cards total Shaman: 1 (defense value) +1 ( Token) = 2 Defense cards total = 2 Defense cards total - 21 -
3) Evaluate attack effects Now both players reveal their battle cards and attack effects are evaluated: First compare the hitzone symbols on the attack cards to those on the defense cards. Each hitzone symbol on at least one of the defense cards cancels out all attack cards showing the same hitzone symbol (these attack cards are considered to be blocked). Blocked attack cards go back to their player s hand and are not evaluated further during this attack. The remaining attack cards that have not been blocked hit the defending hero. Attack cards that hit inflict damage/status effects/special effects to the defending hero. Refer to the hitzone table of the action card of the attacker to evaluate these effects: There you find the wounds ( ), status effects (e.g., ) and special effects (e.g., ) that are dealt to the defender per attack card showing the specific hitzone symbol. If two attack cards show the same hitzone symbol and were not blocked, wounds and status effects are applied twice! To apply status effects just take the corresponding status effect markers from the supply and place them on the defending hero s space. The impact of status effect tokens is explained on page 27 in detail. Then count the total of wounds the defending hero suffers and mark a matching number of hit points ( ) on the defending hero s hero card using a dry eraser (you may also use a wound token and slide it along the hit points printed on the hero card). After the attack is resolved, attack cards and defense cards go back to the hands of their players so that both players have 8 cards at their disposal for the next attack. Example: Let s keep on going with the Bola Strike attack from the last page. 3 Attack cards: Wolfrider 2 Defense cards: Shaman The Shaman manages to block the attack card to the head but is hit by two attack cards to the torso (that he did not defend!) One hit to the torso inflicts 1 and one effect according to the hit box of Bola Strike. The Shaman gets two slow tokens reducing his movement during his next activation by 2 and suffers 2. In case the Wolfrider had chosen two and one, the defense card of shaman showing would have blocked both attack cards showing the symbol! - 22 -
Additional attack rules Special effects: Some attack actions unleash mighty special effects when specific hitzones get hit. Special effects can easily be recognized on the basis of the symbol that shows up a second time on the attack card in the special rules box where the effect is explained in detail. Just follow the description on the card to resolve special effects. There is one important exception to the rules stated above regarding special effects: Special effects can never be triggered more than once per target, even if two attack cards showing the corresponding hitzone hit the target hero! Example Blue team Troll attacks red team Assassin using the Club Strike action. The blue player selects and attack cards while the red player chooses to defend. While the attack card targeting the torso is blocked, the attack card to the head is a hit and triggers which is a special effect (note the symbol that appears again in the special rules box of the card). According to this text Wolfrider is replaced 2 spaces straight away from Troll bruiser. Note that the facing of Wolfrider is not changed as it is an replacement. Because Wolfrider can be moved 2 spaces he doesn t suffer 2 and. Note that there would be no additional effect if blue player had chosen two attack cards as special effects can only be triggered once per target! Attacking multiple targets (AoE attacks): As mentioned before AoE (Area of Effect) attacks may hit more than one target. In that case, the attack is resolved individually for each target with the full number of 8 attack cards and 8 defense cards available for every single target for both players. The attacking hero s player chooses the order, in which the targets are attacked. Example: Blue team Gladiator performs a Battle Roar targeting 1 enemy hero and one friendly hero. Blue team player decides, that the friendly hero is attacked first. In that case the red team player chooses the 2 attack cards (rules for friendly fire page 21) and blue team player chooses defense cards for the target friendly hero. After that, the red team hero gets attacked. Now the blue team player gets to choose 2 attack cards and the red team player defends. - 23 -
Abilities Every action card not showing an attack box is an ability action (short: ability). To perform an ability just follow the description in the special rules box of the ability action card. Some abilities have a range box just like attack actions. Targeting for these abilities works exactly like targeting works for attack actions (see pages 16-20). If targeting is unsuccessful, the ability cannot be performed. Abilities without a range box don t require LoS if not indicated otherwise on the ability card. Blinks and replacements: Some abilities or attacks state to place hero on a space within range x, these are referred to as blinks. This placement is not considered a move and is resolved as a part of the attack or ability! Effects that prevent a hero from performing an attack/ability would prevent that hero from performing a blink, too. However, status effects that modify movement value don t affect the range of blinks. Interrupt actions that trigger on movement cannot be triggered by blinks. Heroes don t need to have LoS (= Line of Sight) to spaces they are placed on during a blink unless stated otherwise. A blink may only be performed if the target space is not blocked and does not contain friendly units unless stated otherwise. After the blink don t forget to choose the facing of your hero and place the figure accordingly. Replacements: replace abilities/effects change the position of a hero, too. When being replaced a hero always keeps his facing. If not stated otherwise a hero being replaced instantly has to stop if that hero is about to be replaced on a blocked space). A replacement is not considered a move, is not effected by movement modificators (xxxx,,xxx or ) and cannot trigger interrupts! A hero s death Whenever one of your heroes suffers an amount of wounds equal to the number of hit points, that are left on the hero card, that hero is killed. Note that a hero cannot receive more wounds than hit points left. Remove the figure of the killed hero from the map and set it aside near the map. Remove all wounds and status effects from that hero and his hero card. The hero keeps equipped items and unlocked action cards. The hero who performed the killing action gets a reward. First the player of the hero may instantly take one mana crystal token from the supply and place it on one of the 3 objective areas. Second the hero who dealt the killing blow may instantly unlock one additional action card (select one of the action cards from under that hero s hero card and add them to your hand note that heroes can only unlock action cards showing the matching hero icon in the bottom right corner. Your hero has learned this new action card now and may use it for the rest of this game. Note that heroes never get rewarded for killing a friendly hero! - 24 -
IV Organization This is the last part of each round. Resolve the following steps in order: 1) Check for scoring! Your heroes may score face up item cards on the track board if the following conditions are met: The amount of mana crystal tokens on the objective area is equal to or greater than the mana cost value of the item card at that objective area. At least one of your heroes dominates that objective area on the map. An area is dominated if there is at least No item can be one of your heroes adjacent scored at Dark to the area and at the same Tower because no time there is no enemy hero team dominates the adjacent to that objective. area! Check the example on the right! If there are two or more heroes of the same player adjacent to one objective area the player may decide which hero scores. Blue team dominated area, item may be scored if there are enough mana crystal tokens on the Town area. Blue team player decides if Troll or Assassin scores! Scoring an item card Scoring rules vary depending on the type of the item card that is scored (usable, armor, weapon, banner): Usable: resolve the effect stated in the special rule box. If not stated otherwise the effects may be applied only to the scoring hero! After that discard the item card and remove it from the game! Armor and weapons: these are equipped by the scoring hero. Therefore place the armor card or weapon card right below that hero s hero card. The hero now benefits from the effects listed in the special rules box until the end of this game (unless certain effects make him lose the item card). Victory banner: Place a scored victory banner next to you at your edge of the table. Victory banners grant a certain amount of victory points stated in the special rules box! Note that item cards can never be transferred from one hero to the other during the game! - 25 -
After scoring remove as many mana crystal tokens ( ) from the objective area where the item was scored as the mana crystal cost of the scored item indicates and turn the next item card of the stack face up! The new upcoming item however cannot be scored this round, even if there are still enough mana tokens on the objective area! 2) Check for victory Victory Banners are a special type of items winning you the game. They grant an amount of victory points as indicated on the card. Add all victory points of all Victory Banners your heroes scored until this point. If you have equal or more victory points in total than 5 you win the game. If that applies to your opponent as well, the player who has more victory points wins the game. If you are still even on victory points that game is a draw. 3) Clean up tokens! Remove any circular tokens (e.g. ) from the map. Square tokens are removed on hero activation, so these tokens are not removed during this step! 4) Recover heroes! Heroes that where killed recover slowly. First place any hero figure laying on its side on its hero card standing upright (like a real hero should). After that take all heroes that where killed during this round from the side of the map and place them on their corresponding hero cards but laying on their sides to show that they still need time to recover. Heroes standing upright on their hero cards may enter the map during their activation next round. Note that there are no action cards chosen during planning phase for heroes that recover laying on their sides. 5) Clean up cards! Take every action card you played this round back into your hand. Additionally take the action cards you put aside during planning phase back into your hand. You should now have as many action cards in your hand as you unlocked during setup ( starting actions ) plus any action cards you additionally unlocked during the game. Locked action cards stay under their hero cards until they are unlocked - 26 -
3.3 Additional rules a) Status effects tokens Some abilities and attacks involve placing different status effect tokens on your and/or your opponent s heroes. Whenever a hero with an effect token is moved/is replaced/blinks, move the effect token along with him/her (unless the effect is discarded upon activation). Effect tokens have different shapes indicating how long they last and take effect before being removed and put back to the token supply. Round tokens: these are removed during step 3 clean up tokens during organization phase or when they are used. Defense modifier: Reduces or increases the number of defense cards you select to defend that hero against incoming attacks. The use of all defense modifiers on a hero is obligatory against the first attack incoming, you cannot save defense tokens for later. Remove the token from your hero s space after use. Square tokens: these are removed upon hero activation. Don t forget to remember the effect (you may place it on the action card you just played ) as it is likely to modify your hero s activation. Stun: your hero cannot perform an ability/attack this activation. Your hero may move and get the defense modificator if the action card grants one. Basically your hero loses the bottom part of the action card. Slow / Fast: reduces or increases the number of spaces your hero my move by a certain amount indicated on the token. Immobilize: prevents your hero from moving this activation (disregarding how high the hero s current movement value is), the hero however may perform blinks or be replaced by certain effects. Exhaust/Enhance: reduces or increases the amount of attack cards your hero may select for attacks during this activation. Binding: Completely prevents your hero from selecting attack cards (the hero still may perform attacks or abilities). Multiple effects: Multiple effects stack and add up. Negative totals are considered to be zero. Any effect that completely prevents the hero from doing something (like moving, playing attack etc.) take precedence over any modificators. Note that adding up some effect tokens (like for example effects. ) won t have additional - 27 -
b) Interrupts Interrupts are actions that may be played during the activation of another hero. Don t forget to finish the original activation after the interrupt action has been resolved. The hero performing the interrupt action is considered to be activated during the interrupt (square status effect tokens, that affect heroes upon activation apply normally to interrupts). Interrupt activation cards are easily noticeable by the blue circles in the action phase bar. Each interrupt card contains information in its special rules box when it can be triggered. Note that playing an interrupt actions is always optional, even when all triggering conditions are met. During an interrupt no other interrupt can be triggered! Playing an interrupt action counts as activating a hero so square effect tokens are removed and the player who did not play the interrupt action may decide next whether to play an action card or pass. Skillshots and interrupts In case an interrupt changes the positions of heroes/objects on the map during the targeting of a skillshot or AoE attack these attacks will affect the new targets after the change of position. c) Attacks from behind Some abilities or attacks have special rules/bonuses if performed from behind the target. A hero is considered to be behind a target if the hero is not in the front arc of that target (check page 18). d) Rules for more than 2 players If you want to play Moba with more than 2 players, form 2 groups of players at the beginning of the game. One group controls blue team and one group red team. All rules that refer to one player now refer to one side (red or blue). During hero draft players within the teams alternate in selecting hero cards when it is their team s turn to draft, and the heroes that are selected are controlled exclusively by that players. You have to organize things yourselves within the team (which card to choose during payday, who may use the teleport card in one round, who may activate first when it s your side s turn ). Note that it may be the case that one player controls less heroes than another player but that s totally fine as long as both sides have the same amount of heroes in their team! - 28 -
e) Blocked Activation If a hero for whatever reason was not activated during the whole round, the hero may be activated at the beginning of the organization phase (before 1. Check for scoring) by the controlling player. Note that the only purpose doing so is to get rid of square status effect tokens or trigger other on activation effects that would otherwise stay until the next round. Note that the hero during that activation may not move or perform any attacks/abilities and cannot trigger interrupts. d) Optional: Payday There is an optional rule concerning payday: If there are objective areas with items which are fully payed and objective areas that contain not enough mana crystals to score the item, players must prioritize the later when selecting an area to put a mana crystal token on! - 29 -